As TV debated the morals of showing explicit images of what it trumpeted as the Death of a Dictator, the video of Saddam Hussein's execution was already circulating on the internet.

"Awaiting first pictures of Saddam Hussein execution" read the news flash on CNN as an Iraqi government national security adviser who had witnessed the execution told the channel that it would be some time before a decision on whether to release the footage would be made.

While CNN was running its Death of a Dictator special, Fox News Channel, the other leading purveyor of rolling news, preferred Date with Death. But neither could keep up with the news. And the debate about the niceties of showing the stark images of death had already been taken out of the western media's hands.

Like so much footage shot on the ubiquitous mobile phone, from acts of police brutality to misbehaving politicians, the raw information had circumvented the traditional instruments of control.

First on Anwarweb.net and subsequently shown on Arabic television channels, the video soon spread to file-sharing websites such as Google Video, YouTube and Revver.

The shaky, hand-held footage appears to have been shot on a mobile phone. Looking up at the scaffold, the jerky viewfinder settles on the figure of the former dictator. His mouth moves, but his words cannot be heard in the video.

Saddam is seen through the red railings of the scaffold, his face illuminated by a light above him and the occasional flash of a camera as the noose is placed around his neck and he begins to recite a Muslim verse: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his prophet."

His words are interrupted by the opening of the trapdoor beneath and his fall, pixellated by the crude video. A crash is heard, and the camera swings and sways about in the tumult as voices shout in celebration. Seconds later, the camera settles on the image of Hussein's bloodied head, lying horizontal with the noose held upright by an unseen hand.

The amateur quality of the video, with its inadequate, green-hued light, erratic audio and jerky camerawork, seem to add to its authenticity.

The video was immediately posted to several websites, endlessly reproducing itself as it was linked from site to site. "I am linking to it, because I believe it is important people have the choice of deciding for themselves [whether to watch the execution]," announced Lostremote.com, after noting that the news channels were showing official footage that stopped at the point when the noose was placed around Saddam's neck. "The truth is that once the video is out there, everyone will find it."

The news channels concurred, deciding to show fragments of the video. "I want to do this with a measure of taste," NBC News president Steve Capus told the New York Times, "but I don't want to stand in the way of history."

While the video is gruesome, it conforms to one of the oldest of dramatic conventions: the act of violence remains off-stage. Viewers see the build-up and the aftermath; the moment of death is not captured.